Plastics Are Blazing A New Frontier Recycled Cups, Bottles Become Space-age Wood

June 27, 1992|By NEIL SANTANIELLO, Staff Writer

Heralding a new technology, they arrived in Palm Beach County three years ago -- eight plastic park benches. County officials unveiled the benches, donated by a plastics manufacturer, in a ceremony in front of the county Governmental Center in West Palm Beach.

Created in a Rutgers University lab, the benches offered a solution to plastic waste: ``plastic lumber.`` Their content: melted and remolded milk and shampoo bottles, plastic-foam cups, school cafeteria trays and other plastic trash.

Initially a pet project of the plastics industry, plastic lumber appears to be holding its own as an fledgling industry.

In the past three years, other plastic lumber items -- including tables, fence posts, car stops and board walk decking -- have appeared in Palm Beach County, a sign of growing consumer confidence in the material, which can be nailed and cut like wood and welded like metal.

In Pahokee, the deck of a 200-foot long fishing pier extending into Lake Okeechobee is made from plastic lumber.

So is a section of a boardwalk in Red Reef Park in Boca Raton. The city now wants to use plastic lumber to build another boardwalk to protect a beach dune near Spanish River Boulevard and State Road A1A.

Students at the Boca Raton Christian School may soon be cavorting in an environmental playground that will have a play train, sand box and trash cans made from the material.

Some plastic lumber manufacturers, such as Better Than Wood in Pembroke Park, say orders for their product line are increasing.

The company builds outdoor furniture and other products from all seven types of recyclable plastics collected in curbside recycling programs throughout the state.

In July, Better Than Wood`s products should become even more visible. A major building supply store chain plans to start selling them then, Lehrman says.

Not all plastic lumber companies can claim such success. Initially, a number of manufacturers ``fell by the wayside`` because of design flaws in their merchandise and poor quality control, Lehrman says.

``They got a bad reputation,`` said Lee Bumgarner, a manager with a 14- month-old plastic lumber company, Earth Care Products in Statesville, N.C. ``They made products that weren`t up to standard. But with any new industry, you`ve got to work the bugs out.``

Some of those bugs could be slowing public acceptance of recycled plastic.

That problem can be corrected, however, by using steel or stronger materials to reinforce the plastic, said Jaima Plana, a Boca Raton architect.

Still, plastic lumber is not rigid enough to use for framing buildings. So far, the biggest projects built with the material in Florida have been board walks and boat docks.

``It won`t carry a load like conventional lumber,`` Bumgarner says.

Although demand is growing, the higher cost of plastic lumber could be an impediment to more widespread use. Plastic lumber can be two to three times more expensive than pressure-treated wood, Cogley said.

However, some cities have justified paying the higher cost by pointing to the product`s durability. Plastic lumber won`t rot like wood and does not have to be refinished every couple of years.

In some case, 20- to 50-year warranties have been offered on the lifespan of recycled plastic products.

Product lines are expanding.

Although playground equipment, benches and tables are Earth Care Products` three top sellers, the company also produces bike racks and compost bins, plus custom-order items.

The company`s biggest customer at the moment is the military, which is purchasing benches and tables from the plant. Bumgarner estimates there are 25 companies nationwide in the business now, but expects others will follow suit as the visibility of plastic lumber increases.